


be alright;

by bloodynargles



Series: au? au. [1]
Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: F/M, Gen, Help, au? no au? yes au, great war au, i dont know what im doing anymore so many aus helo, kind of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-29
Updated: 2014-08-29
Packaged: 2018-02-15 07:14:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2220264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bloodynargles/pseuds/bloodynargles
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fuck it all to hell. That's where they say dead soldiers go, right? Well, jokes on them. She's a freelancer.</p>
            </blockquote>





	be alright;

"On your left!" Arizona's head flicks to her left, her knife in her hand. She barely gets time to register that someone's there before her reflexes kick in and she knocks them into outerspace. Well, nearly. There's a gun thrown to her from her right side and she catches it, knife already holstered and a new clip in her hand. A yell from her radio tells her to 'get the fuck out of there, they threw a frag!' and she takes off running, managing to butt someone with her gun and trip a recruit before the grenade goes off, the explosion is barely a vibration behind her when she gets back to base. Her superior's voice echoes in her ears, she can hear him choke on his own blood and when she whips around she can see his shaking body on the floor, hands over his throat. She takes a cautionary step towards him, but stops, she _knows_ better, knows that whoever did this was using active camo, and she wasn't about to step right into their trap. Takes a step back, and another, takes off running back to the front lines, grabs a shotgun clip before she runs out the door, realises half way there its only half full and she's going to die out here.

 

Oh. Fuck it.

 

 

Fuck it all to hell. That's where they say dead soldiers go, right? Well, jokes on them. She's a _freelancer_.

 

"Nu, you hear me? What we got here?" "Three hostiles on your right, Arie." There's a short laugh, the scuffle of her feet against mud and grassy dirt and three shots unloaded into three hostiles heads. Runs towards the dense forest nearby and hopes to god she can get some shells off a dead body not already looted, hidden by the overgrowth. She drops her red colors, the turquoise harder to track as she moves, dodges frags and shots coming over her shoulder, over the top of her head. Listens to Mu calculating, Nu rattling off several routes to her destination, this is her zone. Others get angry, they go stoic, pretend they don't see death and aren't inflicting pain - they lie to themselves. She knows better, now, knows that if she lies its for a purpose and not her own gain, if she lies its for someone else, its a last resort. She doesn't lie to herself, not anymore. Those days are over, the days when she had a team, when she looked the devil right in the eyes and followed his orders for his gain, when she looked at a man with purple eyes and blonde hair who gave her love, yet she failed to save him, too. Back up to Alpha team, you're supposed to rescue them, watch their backs like they can't, supposed to _save_ them when shit goes wrong. She couldn't, didn't save him, doesn't know which it is anymore, she's stopped trying to figure it out, now.

 

She _failed_.

 

-

 

"Your hair is fading." North's voice sings above where she's sitting, her hand going up to touch her head and pull on a lock of pink hair, looking down at it. She squints at it, then up at him. "Is it?" He laughs and sets his data pad on the table in front of her, having changed into sleepwear earlier, _intending_ to sleep. "Also what happened to sleeping, huh?" She moves her body towards where he's standing, a raised eyebrow questioning his life choices in that very moment. He rubs the back of his neck, a sheepish look on his face and she glares a little in his direction, a playful edge to the expression. His shoulders sink as he sighs, dropping his hand to his side and shrugging before he reaches for her, hand falling on her shoulder, skimming softly over the skin of her neck, tracing her jawline and pressing his thumb against her chapped lips, a slight dopey smile on his face, reaching up into his eyes, on top of tired, stress-ridden skin. She takes his wrist softly and hauls herself up, lifting his data pad as she does, his confused expression is silenced by a small press of lips against his own. "I'm taking you to bed, Mr. North Dakota. Time to sleep, c'mon." There's a soft breathy laugh from behind her as he follows along, albeit not having a choice, anyway.

 

-

 

She's not really paying attention to the ground, or what weapons she's stumbling past, she has Mu on that, and to be honest, he's doing a pretty good job of keeping quiet because its all been looted, there's two more shells left in her gun and she's still a while to go before she's near other people, soldiers _or_ spartans. A few voices echo in her mind that aren't in there regularly and she tries to push them back as she takes cover from enemy fire. The blast skims the rock beside her and she almost holds her breath like it was an old 21st century horror movie, nearly laughs because she remembers Henry being shit scared of those, with their bad cgi and horrible plot points, but it only comes out as her struggling for breaths, dry sob after dry sob pulling at her throat and memories tearing through her mind.

 

-

 

"Heey, big sister." Arizona whips her head around, tugging off her helmet to stare her brother in the face, to take in the ODST uniform, to swallow down the lump in her throat. Henry raises an eyebrow, a slightly worried flicker in his eyes, but she shakes her head and drops her helmet to the floor before throwing her arms around him, burrowing her head into his neck, almost forgetting the world around them, or that she's pretty sure York or South are taking pictures right now. "Did you miss me?" His voice is barely a whisper and she tightens her grip on his shoulder, a low laugh rumbling from his chest at her response. "I'll take that as a yes, then." "Shut up you oaf." She can feel him smile against her head and she closes her eyes, her eyelashes fluttering against his undersuit, saving this moment in her head because she knows it will never be like this again, she'll never see his face like this again. He'll go off to war and fight like a good soldier, a good marine, a _good_ ODST, and he'll yell orders to men when his squad leader dies and they all look to him for direction, they'll follow him into battle and he'll earn a medal for that day, but he'll never look the same. Not the bright eyed kid from Arizona anymore, but a battle scarred man with memories of blood and gore, of death and pure evil, and he'll write her emails to come home, to leave freelancer and live a long life. She'd say no, he'd accept their request for him to become a SPARTAN and would go off to war again. Then she'd get a knock on her door when she was on shore leave, a comrad of his with their cap off and her heart will fall to her feet and they'd hand her his dogtags and bid their farewell with a 'sorry for your loss' hanging in the air. She'd stand there for hours until Carolina opens the door to her grief stricken face, she doesn't ask any questions about who's tags they were, or what happened but she just sighs and shuts the door before pulling her into a firm hug. She doesn't say a word and Arie doesn't, either, they sit in silence and Arizona has nightmares and sobs into her pillow that night, but doesn't object when the red haired wanders over to her bed in the middle of the night and gets in, being there to let the other know that she wasn't alone.

 

-

 

Nu's yelling at her, two hostiles on her right side, nothing left in her clip, her fingers too numb to use her knives like she used to, her head throbbing and her eyes fogging up. Mu's pulling on his brother, shut up, shut up, she can't breathe, let alone move or fight, come on! Fear runs through her veins like molten lava and she can hear Mex's cries as her transmission cut out echo off the walls of her head, shaky fingers unholster the knife from her side and she makes a stab at the side of the first enemy, elbows them after swinging herself around to their right, leaving her side fully exposed to the second one, then carves a deep smile in their throat before lining up the shot and kicking them into the second, running to pick up the gun and unloading two rounds into the head of it before running off, breath heavy and sticky, hot blood running down her gloved hands.

 

-

 

North's arms are around her waist, his lips pressed to the back of her head, eyes closed and fingers rubbing circles against skin, his warm chest close against her bare back and his breaths calm. Her head is leaned back onto his shoulder, her eyes staring off into space, blinking lazily before sighing and turning to press her lips to his cheek, his tired eyes opening and looking down at her. "Hmm?" "I have to piss." He smiles at that, watches her walk away, a laugh on his lips and climbs back into bed, leaning his head against the wall, the cool seeping onto the skin of his ear. Watches the door to the small bathroom, blinking wearily, sleep close and creeping into his mind, Theta's babbling almost silent, now.

 

-

 

She can hear yelling, now. Can see light breaking through the trees beyond her, stumbles towards it, a tired veil resting over her. Why was she so tired? Arizona stifles back a yawn and quickens her pace, the constant thrum of Mu and Nu working in her mind, echoing through the empty spaces, the walls crumbling, letting memories fall off of shelves, people she knew, places she's been. All there. Deaths, suffering - why did the person in the light look like North? It must be her eyes, it has to be, she hasn't slept in a while, had no time to, too scared to sleep without a lookout. Mu mumbles a little in her head and she can make out the chant before stepping into the white light, before it engulfs her fully and leaves her clean, standing in front of the people she loves most.

 

"Allison. Allison. Allison."

 

-

 

Arizona opens her eyes to two other blue staring at her, curls wild around their forehead and she smiles, reaching out to her sister, a hand grabbing hers and squeezing it tightly. "We're gonna be alright, little sister. I promise to the high heavens."

 

They were going to be alright.

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> well. i guess you can use that gif now. sigh.


End file.
